Alice196498 [she/her]

I uſe a Kobo Libra 2 with KoReader, and Calibre to edit and convert e-books. It’s not as large as ſome other models ; ſo it wouldn’t be as well-ſuited to PDFs or certain textbooks, but as as been ſaid elſewhere in the thread, it’s not unreaſonable to convert thoſe to e-pub or mobi for a better experience. What it does have as a benefit over ſome other e-readers at the moment is a higher contraſt ratio and generally good reſolution—not quite as nice as a print book, but very cloſe. The ſcreen itſelf ends up being cloſer to a newſpaper in print quality than a nice book due to the tint and general contraſt, but this can be a bit leſs apparent with brighter lighting or direct ſunlight. It’s an overall nice experience and can act as a replacement for phyſical books, but both methods have their advantages and diſadvantages.

I don’t think that that’s true about the German language or people, and could perhaps benefit from more critical material analyſis and inveſtigation regarding the place and function of thoſe rules relative to the language.

As for how I type the long s, I perſonally uſe a keyboard layout of mine own deſign, which can be ſeen in the attached image. I alſo have a keyboard layout for Android, and although I perſonally uſe Linux, I have alſo made a few ſcript-baſed ways of typing it for Windows including an entirely automated ſolution to help people who would want to incorporate it into their own orthography.

People read by the overall ſhape of words, and given that the long s is an aſcending letter, it gives words a much more varied ſhape than the evenneſs of only uſing the round s, which aids in reading at a glance or taking in lines of text at a time ; and while it is anecdotal, I’ve been told that it helps ſome people with certain reading difficulties ſuch as dyſlexia becauſe of that more varied appearance it gives words and lines. Furthermore, while it doeſn’t really apply to Engliſh, ſome languages uſe word-compound or ſyllable-baſed rules for the long s (an example being German), which can actually help tell ſome words apart from each other ; for example, wachſtube and wachstube (guardhouſe vs tube of wax) or Kreiſchen and Kreischen (ſcream vs ſmall circle) can be eaſily diſtinguiſhed from each other even without context with the long s where they would need more context without.

It’s the long s, an alternate graph, or ſhape, of the letter s. Much like Greek, with its two forms of the letter Sigma (as ſeen in, for example, the name Ὀδυσσεύς (Odyſſeus) with the variants σ medially and ς finally, the long s is uſed in the Latin alphabet in about the ſame way. Hiſtorically, moſt languages written in the Latin alphabet uſed it ; in Engliſh, it ſtarted to fall out of common uſe throughout the 19th century, but did ſee ſome continued uſe by antiquarians, reprints, ſtyliſtick endeavours, and hiſtorical works, as well as to affect or maintain an older ſtyle or air in printing or writing ; ſome people, myſelf included, ſtill uſe it even now. I conſider it to be a form of living hiſtory, with ſome potential benefits to readability once one is familiar with it.

I’m Buddhiſt. The concept of Paṭicca-samuppāda, or Dependent Origination, is quite ſimilar to the ideas preſented by dialectical materialiſm. I don’t directly know many articles or books that talk about the two, but in learning enough about and practiſing both Marxiſm and Buddhiſm, I have found that a Marxiſt-Lenniniſt world view is compatible with Buddhiſm ; there’s even a ſpecifick kind of Socialiſm, called Dhammick Socialiſm or Buddhiſt Socialiſm, which incorporates elements from both Buddhiſm and Marxiſt theory—we could underſtand it as either as Marxiſm with Buddhiſt Characteriſticks or Buddhiſm with Marxiſt Characteriſticks depending on which element one wants to give more emphaſis.

I ſhould alſo like to note that reincarnation iſn’t a Buddhiſt belief—that’s more of a Hindu concept. In Buddhiſm, we do have the concept of rebirth, but that ties in with the concept of annatā (*anatman in Sanſkrit) or non-ſelf, which itſelf relies on Dependent Origination. Baſically, it ſtates that no conditioned phenomena exiſts independently from other conditioned phenomena ; thus, any notion of a permanent, unchanging, independent ſelf, ſoul, or exiſtence is untenable. For example, a flower is made up entirely of non-flower elements without which it could not exiſt—there is no flowerneſs to be found anywhere in it. The concept of rebirth, when underſtood properly and within its context, actually iſn’t at odds with a Marxiſt view—it’s more a different way of referring to certain phenomena which do have a material baſe. Juſt as a wave exiſts dependent on (or to uſe Marxiſt language, in contradiction with) the ſurrounding ocean and wind, ſo too a perſon exiſts dependent on their material conditions—phyſical, environmental, hiſtorical phenomena which ſhape and maintain them. A perſon is thus a pile of conditions, and there’s not any independent, perſiſtent, unchanging ſelf underlying that to be found.

To ſomewhat addreſs the queſtion, ſome reſources to look into might be the works of Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu or Han Yong-un ; and though not directly touching on Marxiſm, the works and and talks of Thich Nhat Hanh, Ajahn Brahm, or Ajahn Chah might be good points of inveſtigation—the Suttas themſelves are alſo a good place to look to gain a better underſtanding of Buddhiſt teachings, though it would be wiſe to keep in mind that they are very old and intended for the audience and place at the time ; not all elements are as eaſy to interpret or directly relevant to modern times without underſtanding the context ſurrounding them. The Buddha tended to adapt what he was teaching to the people, their level of underſtanding, and the context of the times. Buddhiſm in general tries to do that.